Dear Participants and Friends,
On behalf of the Scientific and Organizing Committees, it is my great pleasure to invite you to take part in the 11th International Conference of Contemporary Oncology, part of the “Cancer – a challenge of the 21st century” series, which is to be held at Andersia Hotel in Poznań, Poland, on 13–15 March 2019.
We are entering another decade of our Contemporary Oncology Conferences and the 20 year of publishing our journal Contemporary Oncology (originally entitled Współczesna Onkologia).
This year’s Conference has no leading topic. Over the past few years, the majority of cancer-related meetings have addressed aspects in the areas of onco-immunology or immuno-oncology. Ever since James Allison and Tasuku Honjo were awarded the Nobel Prize about two months ago, almost all conferences or congresses have focused on these topics. Indeed, an enormous progress has been made in understanding how our immune system functions. Researchers apply novel models based on active immune interventions to elucidate the immunomodulatory mode of action of specific factors. In order to consolidate our efforts, this year we invited the Polish Society for Experimental and Clinical Immunology, and the Committee of Immunology and Infectious Diseases of the Polish Academy of Sciences, to participate in the organization of scientific sessions and strengthen our immunology arm. Every year for the past number of years, we have tried to bring together medical, radiation and surgical oncologists, hematologists and dermatologists. The time has come for immunologists – those dealing with cancer treatment and research, but not only.
Last year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Conference of Contemporary Oncology, we hosted the “Dermoscopy Workshops” conducted by the best Polish dermoscopists. This year, we would like to invite you to the CTL workshop on 12 March (the venue will be announced shortly) which will focus on “hard core T cell and B cell immune monitoring”, a topic relevant to all subspecialties of immunology in Poland (allergy, transplants, infectious diseases, autoimmunity, PLUS cancer immunology). The workshop is organized and conducted by Professor Paul V. Lehmann, PhD, MD, and his team from the Department of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio (USA). Professor Lehmann is famous for discovering the phenomenon of “epitope spreading”. He has used his research background and experience for funding CTL, which is a leading commercial company in ELISPOT technologies. We all look forward to participating in the workshop.
Originally, the International Conferences of Contemporary Oncology were held to increase the scientific merit of our journal. However, with time they have become regular fixtures in the calendar of oncology meetings. I want to thank you all for your continuous support in publishing Contemporary Oncology. We trust that we will be able to restore the impact factor of our journal this year. We are on the waiting list, however none of the waiting journals have been accepted in 2018. Our calculated IF is about 1.0, and we are all determined to improve it.
This year’s scientific program covers not only immuno-oncology, but also tumor microenvironment, cancer biomarkers, novel cancer targeted therapies, treatment combinations, and host genetics and cancer. On the final day of the Conference we intend to focus on recent clinical achievements. As in the previous years, a separate session with leading speakers on hematological malignancies is also scheduled.
Poznań has changed since we started organizing the International Conferences of Contemporary Oncology, and the city continues to change. It is a place with significant historical background, known for good quality research, but also full of interesting sights and good restaurants. We wish you a fruitful meeting and a pleasant time in Poznań.
Andrzej Mackiewicz
Editor-in-Chief
On behalf of the Scientific and Organizing Committees, it is my great pleasure to invite you to take part in the 11th International Conference of Contemporary Oncology, part of the “Cancer – a challenge of the 21st century” series, which is to be held at Andersia Hotel in Poznań, Poland, on 13–15 March 2019.
We are entering another decade of our Contemporary Oncology Conferences and the 20 year of publishing our journal Contemporary Oncology (originally entitled Współczesna Onkologia).
This year’s Conference has no leading topic. Over the past few years, the majority of cancer-related meetings have addressed aspects in the areas of onco-immunology or immuno-oncology. Ever since James Allison and Tasuku Honjo were awarded the Nobel Prize about two months ago, almost all conferences or congresses have focused on these topics. Indeed, an enormous progress has been made in understanding how our immune system functions. Researchers apply novel models based on active immune interventions to elucidate the immunomodulatory mode of action of specific factors. In order to consolidate our efforts, this year we invited the Polish Society for Experimental and Clinical Immunology, and the Committee of Immunology and Infectious Diseases of the Polish Academy of Sciences, to participate in the organization of scientific sessions and strengthen our immunology arm. Every year for the past number of years, we have tried to bring together medical, radiation and surgical oncologists, hematologists and dermatologists. The time has come for immunologists – those dealing with cancer treatment and research, but not only.
Last year, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Conference of Contemporary Oncology, we hosted the “Dermoscopy Workshops” conducted by the best Polish dermoscopists. This year, we would like to invite you to the CTL workshop on 12 March (the venue will be announced shortly) which will focus on “hard core T cell and B cell immune monitoring”, a topic relevant to all subspecialties of immunology in Poland (allergy, transplants, infectious diseases, autoimmunity, PLUS cancer immunology). The workshop is organized and conducted by Professor Paul V. Lehmann, PhD, MD, and his team from the Department of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio (USA). Professor Lehmann is famous for discovering the phenomenon of “epitope spreading”. He has used his research background and experience for funding CTL, which is a leading commercial company in ELISPOT technologies. We all look forward to participating in the workshop.
Originally, the International Conferences of Contemporary Oncology were held to increase the scientific merit of our journal. However, with time they have become regular fixtures in the calendar of oncology meetings. I want to thank you all for your continuous support in publishing Contemporary Oncology. We trust that we will be able to restore the impact factor of our journal this year. We are on the waiting list, however none of the waiting journals have been accepted in 2018. Our calculated IF is about 1.0, and we are all determined to improve it.
This year’s scientific program covers not only immuno-oncology, but also tumor microenvironment, cancer biomarkers, novel cancer targeted therapies, treatment combinations, and host genetics and cancer. On the final day of the Conference we intend to focus on recent clinical achievements. As in the previous years, a separate session with leading speakers on hematological malignancies is also scheduled.
Poznań has changed since we started organizing the International Conferences of Contemporary Oncology, and the city continues to change. It is a place with significant historical background, known for good quality research, but also full of interesting sights and good restaurants. We wish you a fruitful meeting and a pleasant time in Poznań.
Andrzej Mackiewicz
Editor-in-Chief